Readers' comments

The Gates-Buffett giving pledge also did not resonate with Chinese cultural values, whereas the "Rockefeller model" in which philanthropy is an obligation and nurtured as a core family value through the generations "To whom much is given, to whom much is expected" could be more enticing?

We can only hope that Jack Ma will become the "Carnegie of China" in deeds as well as in words. But he will soon find out as Carnegie did in his day that "it is harder to give your money away wisely than to make it" and he will likely have to make a tough choice to take the "easy" route pursuing his business dreams of cyberdomination by Alibaba or the road less traveled as Bill Gates has done to make a real impact with his philanthropy, truly inspire (or shame) his peers and change the course of Chinese history.

I pray that one day, my children will say "Bill Gates? Oh yes, he was the Jack Ma of America".

Quite a few charity funds have failed in china due to funders' unsincerity or mismanagement. I hope ma yun will keep his promise and manage the fund as best as he does the biz. the influence will be marvelous.

No matter whatever the real intention behind of Jack Ma and how hypocritical he is, his promise, unless he is going to break it, shall benefit the people who are in need of help. He should deserve an applause rather than a servere critisism. He is an exemplary entrepreneur and role model of all super riches, particularly those in China.

“I feel my most important lesson is undaunted advance without chance to give up, besides unstoppable breakthrough-chasing me who always challenge myself from newer innovation, until a sense of direction set up.”, a discipline of Ma Yun (Jack) who is Forbes’ the first Chinese on cover story and Fortune’s No. 16 of Top 50 greatest leader in 2014. Ma indeed builds up a model of give-and-take trailing of public profile in the world.

In 2009, Ma became No.1 Chinese businessman chosen by CCTV. In “Entrepreneurs for a decade” by CCTV’s finance channel, Ma’s story, heading all other ones, was brought to bear on Chinese business to know a new form of wealth and happiness. It’s said that British defines a mainstream of business but Chinese push ahead with digital kind of business on Internet, called “New Civilization of Business”.

From a friend’s debt collector, in US, Ma knew American then-sprouting internet-style business at first while Windows spread. The former English teacher in college, started from “Chinapages.com” of advertisement for business on Internet in May, 1995. It let Ma win a reputation of “Father of Chinese Internet”. By a 486-laptop, Ma sooner expanded into international market, for a “broker” of small-midsized companies. In Feb. 1999, the group’s name unveiled in expectation of global business and, in Oct., it was run as B2B enterprise after Ma and his manager received Goldman Sach’s capital investment.

In July. 2003, Taobao was announced of the group’s investment, forcing eBay to leave Chinese market in 2006’s winter. During the following 3.5 years, Ma developed alipay, created on Oct. 2003 owing to China’s unique credit-calculated system, and integrated alipay into B2C Taobao on May. 2006 so that Ma spread Internet supply-chain into C2C in the adaptation of blurred division in China between B2B, B2C and C2C. The PBOC, China's central bank, issued licensing regulations in June 2010 for third-party payment providers along with foreign-funded payment institutions so that Alipay, half of China's non-bank online payment market, successfully organized Alibaba’s self-control financial mechanism. Afterwards within few years, Alibaba expands its territory (some of them just owned few ports in the past) into Cloud Computing, Express, some multi-media company plus online business like Youku Tudou. In June 2011, Ma divided Taobao into Taobao, T-Mall and e-Tao with integrated user account, improving win-win flexibility in Chinese online shopping.

After Ma’s handover of Alibaba CEO last year to “dual-CEO” Lu Zau-shi, Ma turns his focus on NGOs and youth’s future. In fact, during the last 2 years, Ma’s speaking sounds sarcastic of admonishment, surprising in China and overseas from the 1989’s Tienanmen Incident (the sayings is a bit unwelcome in China) to the dispute over Hang Seng’s IPO in Hong Kong and even to the damn about those who have no abilities to gain the first pot of gold by the age of 35 Ma marked.

Involving his experience in Guangdong during Wang Yang, now vice-preimer, in term of party’s local chief, Ma introduced the e-commerce as well as e-government ideas for the advanced public service in cooperation with provincial authority. His constructing a framework helped improve efficiency of public affairs much. Besides public interest, youth’s wider vision of world and business is what Ma’s attention which reflects some Chinese publishing about the inspiring morals. Also, Chen Guang-biao is another Chinese philanthropist who offered to buy the stake of Wall Street Journals at the starting days of 2014. Recent years, besides Taiwan’s “show”, Chen assisted to promote the eco-friendly awareness with female models.

Seeing China’s PPP is predicted to overtake America’s by 2014’s 4th quarter, earlier than expected in 2019, Chinese consumer durables with higher consumerism drives huge economic wheel at the speed of intermediate-high level. By this chance, the adaptation of expansive supply chain is a big lesson for those who seek the personal next highlight in training for instinct like hawk and agility like fox. Meanwhile, the altruism involving bonus, coupon and the idea of sharing resources, make the civil society essential to enriching surrounding life as well. Thus, the encouragement of public interest in connection with more business and NGOs is needed to arise on Internet via blogs and on streets about public affairs.

Softbank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, the 2nd richest in Japan, gets one way of business by “top facilities plus even-level idea” similar to Ma’s business tactics and that’s why they are so insightful to donate to charity for a long time. Both show devotions to society after blowing a stage of own trumpet. No time waits for those who never plan.

I worked for Mr. Ma in China for a year. He is a man of many promises, but in the end, he listens to his American spokesman (an ex-Ford Motor lawyer) and a Vice President who is viciously power hungry and jealous of anyone getting his ear. His promises to me were quickly forgotten as he moved forward, squashing my job with him in a few seconds flat. I call him a phony liar.

His business plan for Alibaba was clearly stolen, anyone in business knows it. He would have been shut down from day one in any free country.

He lied and stole in his dealings with Yahoo, that too, is obvious to anyone in business.

He flies around in his (2) Gulfstream jets parading as an environmentalist, all the time guzzling up 500 gallons per hour on vanity trips for him and his entourage. Imagine flying from China to Colorado to give a "talk" on environmental issues for the Nature Conservancy, what a hypocrite? Why not stay home, save the fuel and make a true statement? His life appears to me to be a gigantic fraud.

If he is the face of charity in his country, I cannot help but doubt about his true intentions: he talks a mean game but I have seen his true side, sorry, not a believer.

Your story proved my hypothesis. And you're right. Ma would be nothing if he did not start in China. The same could be true for ALL other billionaires started on Mainland China. All of them use connections and underhand dealings to hoard money. Give them the same start-up capital and put them in any other country, they would not be as half successful. This partly explains why they focus exclusively on China and why foreign businesses find it hard to survive in China.

Ma is among those few who keep a high tone to make his declaration of the charity causes in China, which goes against the essence of the Chinese tradition, and as a man of business-minded, he is sure where he is heading for.

Pursuit of profit is the only goal for capital, and the same is true for the management of foundations, and that’s why Mr. Gates builds up his fame and how his foundation strengthens its reputation.

The key elements for his success, from which the Chinese philanthropists should learn;
1. Reasonable investment. Without rational investment, there would be no high returns to make his cause sustainable. Gages injects his money into American government bund, High-grade commercial paper and short-term discount bonds，domestic and international mutual funds investment, high yield securities and international enterprises and government securities, and runs the investment the way he has done to his Microsoft;
2. Cautious in management of charity Causes. The regulation and implementation of each project is under prudent scrutiny, and efforts are directed to make the project transparency.

Absence of proper supervision and transparency in charity causes in China brought the biggest charity organization China’s ‘Red Cross” to the limelight couple of years ago when scandals involved in the organization were disclosed. Whenever the term ‘charity’ is mentioned in media, ordinary Chinese are casting their doubts towards it, and social elites are reluctant in making their presence in the cause, exceptional for Mr. Ma.

Hope the superrich in China would match their deeds to their words, and government policy would be in place for supervision.

The issue of making such donations 'tax deductible' is one that needs further thought; the assumption that the state should forgo its money and give additional power to the philanthropist, whilst standard in the West, is not one that is entirely obvious.